1:1 Mentorship Program Lead

About Indigo Indigo Research is dedicated to transforming the education landscape by pairing high school students with research mentors to complete and publish research projects. Whether in-person or online, we aim to deliver transformative educational experiences and cultivate the next generation of scholars. Role Overview The 1:1 Program Lead is a key member of the Operations Team responsible for the end-to-end planning, execution, and student success across our 1:1 Online Research Mentorship programs (Explorer, Researcher, and Innovator). Operating in a 100% virtual environment, the PL manages bespoke, long-term student journeys ranging from 12 weeks to 50+ weeks. This role focuses on mentor matching, tracking multi-milestone research deliverables, maintaining parent/family communications, facilitating academic credits, and supporting publication/competition submissions. The 1:1 PL must be highly organized, proactive, and comfortable working across different stakeholders and in ambiguous, fast-paced environments. They will directly oversee Operations staff, ensuring that team KPIs are met and that students continue to succeed as Indigo expands. Key Responsibilities Team Leadership & Operations Oversight - Oversee Mentor Operations Lead, supervising the execution of the end-to-end Mentor Lifecycle. Ensure accountability for mentor KPI tracking systems, mentor performance reviews, recertification efforts (IRB & Publication Support), capacity forecasting, and reduction of mentor-related escalations. - Oversee Junior Operations Coordinator, providing direction on mentor allocations, ensuring target turnarounds, administrative support SOPs, database accuracy, and student progress follow-ups. - Align mentor management systems and allocation pipelines with 1:1 program outcomes to eliminate bottlenecks and operational friction for workflow optimization. Project & Student Journey Management - Ensure a stellar program experience across all three 1:1 tiers (Explorer: 10 hrs / 12 wks; Researcher: 20 hrs / 23 wks; Innovator: 45 hrs / 50 wks). - Implement a 5-star outcome plan, increasing student success rates and achieving higher levels of student outcomes while maintaining current student outcome rates. - Act as the primary escalation contact to handle and resolve student, family, or mentor conflicts, maintaining high satisfaction and delivering practical solutions. - Oversee escalation ops, including devising systems to support tracking, analyzing performance, interventions, and ways to lower or eliminate escalations entirely. Mentor & Stakeholder Management - Review mentor KPIs and PRs to discuss performance, share best practices, and drive continuous improvement. - Provide operational support, guidelines, and Checkpoint System tracking. - Identify scalable systems for improved mentor management, eliminating manual operations and giving mentors more high-touch opportunities for feedback and support. - Work with Indigo staff to convene Academic and Scientific Review Committees, identifying areas of improvement and achieving progress against priorities (e.g. AI policies, academic integrity). Operations & Continuous Improvement - Work with Operations Lead to monitor student progress via tracking dashboards, coordinating with Student Success and Indigo Ops teams to strategically intervene as needed. - Implement a new escalation prediction system, monitoring hotspots and eliminating escalations and other challenges before they occur. - With the Indigo SSM, analyze operational data and Net Promoter Scores (NPS) to identify service gaps and implement scalable, automated workflows. - Maintain seamless integration with Student Success Teams and Crimson Education stakeholders. Qualifications & Skills Qualifications - Experience: 3–5 years of experience in education, mentoring, academic coaching, or youth development organizations. - People Management: At least 2 years of experience directl